1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of fish stringers used by anglers for the underwater maintenance of live captured fish. More specifically, the present invention concerns a buoyant fish stringer having a fish stringing line of easily adjustable length.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
It is well known by anglers to use fish stringers of various configurations to maintain their captured fish underwater in a safe, live and fresh condition while continuing to fish. The fish are threaded through the opening in the gills and out through the mouth. It is common to thread each fish separately on a safety pin hook or to thread all fish on a common line. Currently, the prior art discloses a wide variety of fish stringing devices. All are different from the present invention and fail to provide its unique advantages. Typical examples of pertinent prior art but which differs from the present invention are found in the following U.S. Patents:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. ISSUED INVENTOR(S) ______________________________________ 827,855 AUG. 7, 1906 FARMER 2,424,658 APR. 17, 1946 HANSON 3,561,652 FEB. 9, 1971 RUTER 4,328,916 MAY 11, 1982 LUCAS 5,031,809 JUL. 16, 1991 ROBERTS et al. 5,203,480 APR. 20, 1993 DAY et al. ______________________________________
Farmer discloses a fish stringer and handle combination aiming to avoid the liability of a long string of fish trailing on the ground when carried out of the water. The handle is provided with hooks so that the fish string may be folded over so that its trailing length is reduced.
Ruter unveils a floating fish stringer. A conventional fish stringing chain having conventional spaced apart safety pin hooks is also provided with flotation units in case the fish stringer would be accidentally dropped.
Lucas also divulges a floating fish stringer. His device consists of a floating ring with conventional safety pin hooks radially disposed on the ring and a tow line attached to the middle of the ring.
Roberts et al. for their part show a fish string line where the conventional needle end is replaced with a small looped end. The small looped end can fit through the gills and mouth of a caught fish and then be secured to a conventional releasable hook such as a snap hook.
Day et al. disclose a floating D-shaped fish stringer handle comprising a conventional string line having a needle at one end and a fish retaining stopper at the other end. The string line can be wound in a groove around the handle so that its length may be adjusted at will. However one important drawback is that each time a caught fish is strung, all of the fish string must be unwound from the handle and rewound to an appropriate length.
As illustrated by the great number of prior art patents, efforts are continuously being made to provide improved fish stringer systems which are reliable and easy to use and manufacture. However noteworthy to one extent or another, none of the previous efforts can provide the unique benefits conferred by the present invention.